If you subscribe to the digital edition of Interzone 294 you’ll receive my story ‘Benji the Killbot’ as a free extra, with artwork by Martin Hanford.
‘No one really knew who ran the killbots. For about a year or so, this fleet of drones had added to the insane sense of precariousness to life in East City, where even minor transgressions could become punished by anonymous revenge killings. Initially released as tech for hire, the mainframes of the killbots had been hacked relatively quickly, leaving them to roam the city as deadly freeware. It wasn’t the first time that Marvell had encountered one, given his background in security. They were employed out of the city, picked up as extra guns on raids. The anti-tech cults found their use particularly egregious, and so they served as an effective function of psy-ops.’
I enjoyed writing this one, not least because it picks up the story of one of the minor characters in my novella Requiem For An Astronaut. I’m also grateful for some kind words on the story from Des Lewis, which you can read here.
Absence Club 